Dad Puts Up Billboard to Celebrate His Son ‘Not’ Being Named Valedictorian

One North Carolina dad thinks his kid deserves some rightful recognition, even if school officials don’t agree. After his son wasn’t named valedictorian of his graduating class, despite finishing with the top GPA, he bought a $1,800 billboard to let everybody in town know just how proud he was of the accomplishment.

In all fairness, his son wasn’t named valedictorian because the school officially stopped naming the head of the class in 2016 in order to preserve the feelings of those kids who came up just short of the goal. It’s not that officials at East Wake High School hate achievement, but rather, they wanted to cut back on “unhealthy competition.” Still, that didn’t stop the proud Garry Allmon from posting a billboard that read: “Congrats! Josh Allmon. You will always be our valedictorian.”

“East Wake High School and Wake County Public School Board may not recognize Josh’s hard work, but we will,” added Allmon in the caption of his social media post. “Please, if you are on 264 heading east towards Zebulon, take time to take a look at the big digital billboard just pass the East Wake exit.”

East Wake High School and Wake County Public School Board may not recognize Josh's hard work but we will. Please if you…

As one can imagine, not becoming valedictorian was no small feat for Josh. In addition to finishing first in his class with a 5.31 GPA, he performed over 400 community service hours and was all-conference in two different sports. Naturally, he received a full ride to North Carolina State this fall. He also made his dad’s gesture a little more political when he posted on Twitter:

“For those commenting, the billboard stood for more than my recognition,” Josh wrote in a tweet. “It was a public statement, geared towards an increased public awareness on the negative effects that come with such policies. High-achieving students have their reputations undermined by them.”

It’s hard to say how exactly a student’s reputation is undermined by these types of policies, but hey, the kid wants his recognition. He earned it, right? Regardless of how you feel about the school’s policy, though, it’s still cool just to see a dad do something awesome to celebrate his kid.